The old motel, which has been closed since 2015, was recently taken over by Gene Unrau and Doug May. The partners are hoping to start the first of three phases as soon as possible to turn the old building into something new again.
Unrau and May both explained that seeing the building vacant for so long, first listed with a realtor then taken over by the Municipality of Boissevain-Morton, helped spur their ideas.
“It is such a prime location,” May explained. “A lot of people would likely drive by thinking what could I do with this place?”
Unrau said he had toured the building earlier, and despite public perception, it is not in bad shape.
“I toured it when it was vacant,” Unrau said. “The structure is sound, in super good shape. It needs a lot of maintenance work, but it is structurally sound.”
The proposal brought to Council differed from the original motel-bar-restaurant concept that the building housed since opening in the 1960’s.
Unrau had first made the proposal to the local council, and since invited Doug May on as partner for the project.
Unrau said smaller towns have trouble supporting multiple businesses of these types in the modern era. Instead, it was time to move in a new direction.
“We wanted to set forward a proposal that would add to the community rather than take away from something someone else started.”
The first phase planned is to take the motel part of the building, completely reconstruct it inside and turn it into apartments. Everything inside would be completely new. May said because of the crawl space inside, it will be easy to change the plumbing and electrical part. Restructuring will allow for the use of maximum square footage.
Right now, the plan is for seven or eight apartments, with some two bedroom and some one bedroom. The idea is for them to be 1,000 square feet. Although some of the exact details are not yet certain, it has not stopped members of the public from being interested.
“We are already developing a waiting list,” Unrau stated.
May said the location is a big selling point.
“It is perfect,” he said, ‘for accessibility, it is all on one level. The location is close to the grocery store, the hospital, banks. It is in the centre of town. It is a prime location.”
The second phase planned is to turn the former bar area and attached space into a banquet facility. The bar and cooler would stay, but they would have to put together a new kitchen. Unrau said they would be in discussion with caterers to see what they need to put in to make it work. He understands there is a demand for newer space to hold wedding socials, funeral meals, family gatherings and events of that type. May added the parking, both at the front and back of the building, would come in handy for that use.
The third phase would be to gut everything in the kitchen/front desk/restaurant area, and turn the approximately 5,000 square feet there into commercial rental space. They said there is a lot of room for multiple tenants, everything from office space to retail. They can develop it as needed, and though the apartments are planned first, they could move over to that area if a renter comes forward in a hurry. Unrau said they are planning on keeping the sign fixture up for renters to use.
Also of interest is the Red Coat mural on the front of the building. As of now, the mural does not infringe on the new owners’ plans, so they are planning for it to stay.
When the weather becomes more spring-like, they are planning to hold an “oversized garage sale”. There are a lot of good items that they will not be using, like fixtures, desks, lamps, etc. Rather than send them to the landfill, they would like someone else to get use out of them. There has already been interest shown in some items.
The intention is to start work in the building this spring, with the goal being to have the apartments ready before winter. Again, they know there is a lot of work to do inside, but stress that the building is in good shape overall and just needs attention.
“It needs maintenance, it needs a lot of cleanup, it needs reconstruction inside,” Unrau said, “but we are very confident that as we develop with an essentially new interior, it will feel entirely new.”
Unrau said Council is supportive of the ideas. So is everyone who hears of them.
“It’s really exciting. We’re 100% excited about the potential. People have been nothing but encouraging. That’s exciting. Having people call to put them on the list for an apartment, that’s super encouraging.”
“The effort here is not to detract from things in the community,” May continued, “but to build on what is here in the community, to give something the community needs.”
by PAUL RAYNER, Recorder staff